man who made quick decisions. Their places would cost them two folles apiece. Wulf would help to protect the caravan, and the two women would be expected to help with the meals. In exchange they would travel in safety and be allowed to eat from the common pot.
“If you want wine, bring it,” Garhard said. “You supply your own plates and spoons. I don’t want your women whoring for extra coins. It causes too much trouble among the men.”
“The women are my wife and her servant,” Wulf said quietly. “They do not whore, and if your men look at them askance, or speak to them with disrespect, they will have me to deal with.”
“Understood,” Garhard replied. “We leave at dawn.”
They hurried back to the market, where Cailin purchased newly made wood plates and spoons for them, and a single goblet that they would all share. She found a woman selling freshly stuffed pallets, and bought three along with some blankets.
“We should have a cart,” she told her husband. “The mare can pull it, and it will hold our worldly goods. We cannot carry it all. You are used to sleeping upon the ground, but Nellwyn and I are not. And we will need water bags, and a brazier, and charcoal. It is almost winter, Wulf, and the farther north we go, the greater chance there is of snow. A cart will offer us some protection from bad weather and wild animals.”
He laughed. “You have been living like a young queen in Byzantium. I would have thought you had forgotten such practical matters, but I see you have not. Come, let us purchase what you think we need.”
They left just before dawn the next morning. The two women drove the little cart with its cloth-covered sides and roof. They had carefully packed all their possessions inside, along with extra provisions to supplement the communal pot. The water bags hung from the cart.
The caravan traveled the Roman roads up the spine of Gaul through Arelate, Lugudunum, Augustodunum, and Agedincum, to Durocortorum. They then took the road that turned slightly more north, moving on through Samarobriva, and finally arriving at Gesoriacum, an ancient naval port. It had taken them many weeks to reach their destination. It was already mid-February.
They arranged their next passage with a coastal trader. He would take them across the thirty miles of sea separating Gaul and Britain to the port of Dubris. As the sun rose over Gaul, which now lay behind them, they made landfall in Britain on the morning of February twentieth.
Cailin wept unashamedly. “I did not think I should ever see my native land again,” she said, sobbing, as Wulf comforted her.
“We have been traveling for over four months,” he said. “Would you not like to rest for a few days now that we are back in Britain?”
Cailin shook her head. “No! I want to go home.”
The cart lumbered its way up to Londinium. Cailin looked about her, remembering little of her last visit. Once this place would have awed her, but now it looked insignificant when compared to Constantinople. She was happy to take Stane Street west to Corinium.
When they reached that town of her family’s origin, Cailin was shocked. The once thriving Corinium was almost silent, and deserted. Rubbish littered the streets. The buildings were in poor repair. In the amphitheater there were weeds growing between the stone seats, which were cracked and broken. Many houses were locked and empty. It was not as she remembered it.
“What has happened?” she asked Wulf.
He shook his head. “I do not know, except perhaps without a central government, the town cannot maintain itself. Look about you. Most whom we see in the streets are elderly. They stay, obviously, because there is nowhere else for them to go. The market thrives, however. It seems to be the only thing that does.”
“But it is mostly foodstuffs,” she noted. “There are few other goods for sale. What has happened to trade? And the pottery works?”
“People must eat,” he said. “As for the rest, I do not know.” He shrugged. “Come, lambkin, we have two more days of traveling before we reach our lands. Let us not dally. We will have Antonia Porcius to contend with, I am certain. She has undoubtedly annexed our lands for herself once more. At least we will know better than to trust her this time. And your Dobunni family will rejoice to learn you are alive.”
Their cart moved up the Fosse Way until finally they